When I'm Gone
by tunafish9
Summary: What really goes on in Tristan's mind when he is in North Carolina?


Title: When I'm Gone Rating: PG-13 (just a precaution) Disclaimer: I do not own the show Gilmore Girls, or the song When I'm Gone by 3 Doors Down. AN: This is the first fanfic I've written EVER! I'm so excited lol. Anyway, feedback is always appreciated...I know it's short but I'm so loaded down with homework and I just wanted to post something.  
  
There's another world inside of me  
  
That you may never see  
  
There're secrets in this life  
  
That I can't hide  
  
Tristan rolled over as a blaring alarm awoke him. After trying to recapture the last few precious moments of sleep, he finally resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to get anymore sleep. As he dragged himself into the grey, industrial-looking bathroom to have an invigorating shower, Tristan heard the grunts of his roommate as he launched himself into his daily routine of push-ups, curl ups, and bicep curls.  
  
Tristan let the hot water pepper his tense body as he finally let his guard down. The water beaded on his tanned body as he was slowly but surely brought back to earth. Military school. Boot camp. No matter what it was called; no matter how many unpleasant details were glossed over by his parents, the truth remained that his loving parents had sent him to this cold place.  
  
Somewhere in this darkness  
  
There's a light that I can't find  
  
Maybe it's too far away... Maybe I'm just blind...  
  
Cold. Cold could not even begin to describe this empty, desolate, barren place. The thought alone of an institution where rejects go; the dregs and waste of society are exiled to is repulsive. For whatever act that landed them all in this hellhole, they have resigned themselves to living in this bleak place run by masochists. Even thoughts of his friends do nothing to quell the rising of bile in Tristan's stomach.  
  
So hold me when I'm here  
  
Right me when I'm wrong  
  
Hold me when I'm scared  
  
And love me when I'm gone  
  
Everything I am  
  
And everything in me  
  
Wants to be the one  
  
You wanted me to be  
  
I'll never let you down  
  
Even if I could  
  
I'd give up everything  
  
If only for your good  
  
He kept himself going each day with the thought that some day, some time, she would contact him. However insignificant their exchange of meaningless words would be, it would brighten up his otherwise joyless day.  
  
Roaming through this darkness  
  
I'm alive but I'm alone  
  
Part of me is fighting this  
  
But part of me is gone  
  
Though Tristan had easily made friends with all sorts of misfits, he could not help but feel lonely. His weekly phone calls had been allotted to assuring his father that he was keeping out of trouble.  
  
"He sent me all the way out here, he hasn't seen me in months, and when I can finally tear him away from screwing the secretary, all he asks is if I'm hanging out with the 'right' kind of people?" Tristan angrily mused.  
  
So hold me when I'm here  
  
Right me when I'm wrong  
  
Hold me when I'm scared  
  
And love me when I'm gone  
  
Everything I am  
  
And everything in me  
  
Wants to be the one  
  
You wanted me to be  
  
I'll never let you down  
  
Even if I could  
  
I'd give up everything  
  
If only for your good  
  
Weeks later, he finally worked up the courage to call her.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Uh...hi. Rory?" Tristan stuttered.  
  
"No, sorry, it's her mother. Can I ask who is calling?"  
  
"Er...I'm...a friend. Yes. I'm a friend of hers," Tristan repeated, immediately liking the sound of the word friend.  
  
"Okay. Rory! Phone!"  
  
A muffled exchange was heard from Tristan across the country, and even he couldn't miss Rory's mother mutter "I don't know...he says he's a friend. Sounds kind of sketchy to me,"  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey...Rory?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"It's Tristan,"  
  
So hold me when I'm here  
  
Right me when I'm wrong  
  
Hold me when I'm scared  
  
And love me when I'm gone  
  
Everything I am  
  
And everything in me  
  
Wants to be the one  
  
You wanted me to be 


End file.
